The slow-motion video revealed that the image of five alike symbols -- the winning hand -- was flashed for a fifth of a second as gamblers started the machine, the spokesman said. Such messages could signal to a gambler's unconscious mind that he has won the jackpot no matter what the true outcome of the spin, he said.

The spokesman said the image is invisible to the naked eye. "You can stand there for 20 hours and never see it," he said. "Some experts say that it's subliminal. The gambler supposedly sees it [unknowingly], and it induces them to play more and more. We don't condone subliminal messaging."

AGCO doesn't test for subliminal messaging in gaming devices, the spokesman noted. After viewing the film, AGCO officials immediately contacted Konami about the matter, he said. A software patch that corrects the "coding error" to be shipped to the casinos within a few days, the ACGO pokesman said.

A Konami spokesman denied that the machine sends subliminal messages to convince people to use their gambling machines. "There is no subliminal message in the software," said a spokesman. The company nevertheless is building a software patch that will scatter the symbols before the reel starts, he said.